Mazda Adds A Hard Top Option To The MX-5 But You Probably Can't Have It

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If you want a solid roof over your head, you either need need to opt for the MX-5 RF or get into racing.

During our previous drive of the MX-5 RF, Mazda engineers were quick to point out what any self-respecting gearhead knows: that the Miata is a car intended to make the driver feel as if butterflies were fluttering in their stomach, not lap the Nurburgring more quickly. Still, that doesn't change the fact that Mazda sells a racing version of the Miata called the MX-5 Global Cup race car. The only problem is that the race car only came in open-top roadster format.

That meant that racing series with regulations requiring hard tops, such as the Pirelli World Challenge series, were automatically off-limits for the MX-5 Global Cup car. Well, fear no longer because Mazda has just introduced a hardtop conversion for the car. “While our first year was spent concentrating on the successful launch of the MX-5 Cup car in our Battery Tender Global Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires, we knew that was just one arena for customers. Now with an available hardtop, Mazda racers can compete in SCCA and NASA Club Racing and in the Pirelli World Challenge TCA class,” said David Cook, business development manager, Mazda Motorsports.

In other words, that means there's once again a hardtop option for the Miata. Unfortunately, the new top won’t be available for the standard soft-top Miata, Mazda wants buyers to gravitate towards the RF if that's a priority. For the MX-5 Global Cup race car owners and those who have committed to buying one, deliveries of the new top will begin in April after a check for $4420 is sent to Mazda HQ. What Mazda doesn’t make clear is how the add-on will change the car’s performance. We have no information regarding what the top is made of, how much weight it adds to the car, and whether or not it alters aerodynamics or structural integrity. These sorts of things matter when a car weighs only 2,100 pounds and makes 158 horsepower.